imo talking to fellow workers about how much the boss is paying, and a random stranger asking me what I do for a living while i’m just trying to buy glasses are two totally different things.
Obviously no-one is forced to answer such questions from random strangers (and at least personally I have never experienced people asking such questions out of the blue), but it isn’t just about co-workers as you need to be able to freely exchange salary information across companies and also different economic sectors to make an informed decision where to work.
imo talking to fellow workers about how much the boss is paying, and a random stranger asking me what I do for a living while i’m just trying to buy glasses are two totally different things.
Obviously no-one is forced to answer such questions from random strangers (and at least personally I have never experienced people asking such questions out of the blue), but it isn’t just about co-workers as you need to be able to freely exchange salary information across companies and also different economic sectors to make an informed decision where to work.